Amidu was sworn in by President Akufo-Addo at an event held at the Flagstaff House today
President Akufo-Addo has entreated Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu to guard against using his office to settle personal scores.
According to him, the Special Prosecutor’s office is a non-partisan one with the relevant professional capability to lead the fight against corruption and hold public officials past and present accountable for their stewardship of public finances.
President Akufo-Addo made this known Friday February 23, 2018 during the swearing-in of Mr. Amidu as the country’s first Special Prosecutor.
The Ghanaian people, he said, expect the office of the Special Prosecutor to rise to the challenge and to the occasion, collaborating with other existing law enforcement agencies to fight “relentlessly and help eliminate corruption in our public life.”
He further stated that Mr. Amidu is expected to discharge his duties as the Special Prosecutor “vigorously with courage; without fear or favour, ill-will or malice” in accordance with the rule of law.
The establishment of the Special Prosecutor’s office, explained President Akufo-Addo is for a high purpose and must not under any circumstance “be used as an avenue for persecution or vengeance.”
Mr. Amidu’s swearing in comes in the wake of the latest Corruption Perception Index (CPI) indicting the government of Ghana of doing little to fight the canker.
Ghana was ranked 81 out of 180 countries in the 2017 CPI released on Wednesday by Transparency International, scoring 40 as against last year’s score of 43 and dropping 11 places in the process.
It is Ghana’s worst performance in the last six years in its fight against the canker.
Meanwhile, former President Jerry John Rawlings told journalists on the sidelines of a state burial organised for the late Professor Francis Kofi Allotey that President Akufo-Addo’s appointment of Mr. Amidu as Ghana’s first Special Prosecutor is a vindication of the former’s stance as far as corruption is concerned.
According to him, the appointment would help “restore integrity back into governance; that we can’t get into government with impunity to steal and corrupt institutions and go with it.”
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